The seven motorcyclists killed in a horrific New Hampshire crash were mostly Marine veterans, on their way to a Jarheads Motorcycle Club gathering when they fatally collided with a pickup truck, according to a report.
A 2016 Dodge 2500 truck slammed into the group of bikers Friday evening around 6:30 p.m. as they were traveling east along a rural, two-lane highway — just 500 feet from where most of the motorcyclists were staying, the Associated Press reported.
One person was airlifted and two others were taken to nearby hospitals.
Witnesses described a grisly scene along US 2 in Randolph, which is about a three-hour drive from Boston.
“It was so devastating to see the bodies on the road,” said Jerry Hamanne, co-owner of a nearby bed-and-breakfast. “My God, I don’t want to see something like this again.”
Beatrice Engstrand, a doctor who was one of the first on the scene, told NPR she tried to stop some of the bikers’ bleeding with towels and tourniquets.
“At least three bikers were thrown into the woods and there were flames over 20 feet high,” Engstrand said. “The motorcycles were all chopped up all over the roads and there were bodies everywhere and people crying.”
Charlie St. Clair, executive director of Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, which hosts a major annual rally in New Hampshire, said the mass casualty incident was unprecedented in the biker community.
“This is staggering and it’s tragic beyond description,” St. Clair told the AP. “You have a bunch of people out for a ride enjoying one of the first nice days we had. To have this happen, it defies logic quite frankly.”
The names of the bikers have not been released, pending family notification.